Air Arabia is to become the latest low-cost carrier to enter the Russian market with plans to establish new links to Moscow and Ekaterinburg from its Sharjah International Airport base this month. The airline will introduce a three times weekly flight to Moscow Domodedovo on October 14 and will follow with a twice weekly service to Ekaterinburg on October 29. These are Air Arabia’s first links to Russia, but it already flies to four other destinations in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
"We are extremely pleased to announce the upcoming launch of service to Moscow and Yekaterinburg, which represents a significant milestone in the history of Air Arabia," said Adel Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer, Air Arabia. "Indeed, it seems entirely appropriate that we will introduce service to one of the world's great cities in October, at a time when we will be celebrating the eighth anniversary of launch of Air Arabia itself."
Highlighting, in particular, the strong business ties between Russia and the UAE, Ali added that the carrier anticipated strong demand for service to the country. "Based on the high level of business and tourism traffic between the two countries, we are confident that our new service to Moscow and Ekaterinburg will further offer our customers a great value for money option to benefit from," he said.
Moscow, with a population in excess of 10.5 million, is the most populous city in Russia, the largest nation on earth, and is the country's economic and political centre. The UAE is home to an increasingly significant Russian expatriate community, and is also one of the preferred holiday destinations for residents of the country.
In the past year an estimated 451,000 O&D passengers travelled between Russia and the UAE, up 14.9 per cent on the previous 12 months and a figure that is actually considerably higher when you also factor in the many charter flights between the two countries. Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways already provide full-service options from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to Moscow and Emirates will introduce a link to St Petersburg from November 1. Air Arabia will also compete with low-cost rival flydubai which now provides services to four destinations in Russia from Dubai – Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Samara and Ufa.
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